Besides writing for Salt City Hoops, David contributes to the Utah Jazz coverage for the Deseret News and has written for the Utah Jazz website and Hoopsworld.com (now Basketball Insiders). He graduated from BYU and works for LDS Philanthropies. He and his incredibly patient wife have five amazing children--four girls and a boy named Stockton (yes, really).

Since the news came down on Monday that the Utah Jazz were not going to extend Tyrone Corbin, the landscape for the franchise looks vastly different. It is an unprecedented time for the Jazz, as they have not conducted an off-season coaching hire in since Frank Layden’s time. It’s a mix of excitement, anticipation and nervousness as Utah turns the page on a new era.

There are many names being mentioned and Salt City Hoops will be doing its part over the next week or so to provide some profiles for potential candidates. While the hot names are Ettore Messina, Quin Snyder, Jim Boylen and even John Stockton, there are some other prospects that fans should keep their eyes on.

Alex Jensen is a familiar name, given his ties to the state. Jensen grew up in Centerville and was Utah’s Mr. Basketball in 1994. He went on to have a very solid career at the University of Utah, playing for the one and only Rick Majerus. He was a glue guy, doing all the things that help a team win: rebounding, defensive stops, hustle plays. Jensen was, of course, part of the squad that fought for the 1998 national championship, just falling short to Kentucky.

He went undrafted, but enjoyed a nice international career in Spain, Japan, Turkey, with the bulk of his time spent in Enes Kanter’s homeland. Jensen and Majerus reunited at Saint Louis, when the former assisted the later for four seasons.

Jensen then got the opportunity to be a head coach in the NBA Developmental League. The D-League has helped propel the careers of many basketball players, but it is also a training ground for coaches just as much as players. It did not take long for Jensen to show what he could do, earning the D-League Coach of the Year honors his second year.

He spent the last season working with the Utah Jazz as a player development coach and from all accounts, the Jazz are very interested in retaining him going forward. That could naturally be in his current role, working with a new coaching staff. Or perhaps there could be more in store for him.

The Deseret News’ Mike Sorensen had a wonderful article about Jensen, his ties with Jazz General Manager Dennis Lindsey, his coaching resume and so forth. And a year ago, ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz profiled Jensen in a list of Who’s ready to be an NBA head coach. According to Arnovitz, Jensen was the prevailing candidate for the most likely head coach from the D-League.

Jensen has familiarity with the current corps of players, having working with them individually and collectively the past year. Always a cerebral person, he’s had the chance to look closely to see what has worked in Utah and what needs to be addressed. With a young group of players, the 37-year old could be a coach who could grow with the team.

It would be wise to keep an eye on Jensen. It seems likely that, one capacity or another, he will be part of the Jazz organization moving forward.

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David J Smith

Besides writing for Salt City Hoops, David contributes to the Utah Jazz coverage for the Deseret News and has written for the Utah Jazz website and Hoopsworld.com (now Basketball Insiders). He graduated from BYU and works for LDS Philanthropies. He and his incredibly patient wife have five amazing children--four girls and a boy named Stockton (yes, really).

The life lessons I remember the most from Coach Majerus were the ones he had the most difficulty following. During my one year as a walk-on in his program (1994-1995), I remember him having us sit in the first row of the Huntsman Center stands after one practice and talking to us about the importance of living a balanced life. That day, he told us not to drink soda (which from that day on I have barely touched), to eat healthy, and to find interests outside of basketball. The summer prior to that season, he had been an assistant coach for Dream Team II at the World Championships, and frequently rendered his opinion on the members of that team. He had a deep admiration for Joe Dumars, and spoke about him as a model for our lives on many occasions. Joe Dumars was a healthy eater, engaged in hobbies off of the basketball court (like tennis). It struck me at the time, that he was probably trying to motivate himself as much as us. After all, he struggled with weight, lived in a hotel, ate out every meal, and was consumed with basketball.

The narrative of his life, as far as public perception goes, seems to go like this: In the 90’s he was a lovable wizard of coaching, who charmed the media, routinely coached untalented players to Sweet 16s and beyond, and had a big heart. A decade later, more attention was given to the cantankerous and sometimes abusive coach who dropped scholarships of low performing players and tormented ones who did not live to their potential (the Lance Allred autobiography). My year with him left me the impression that all of the above were true except one (which I will get to later), but that he was a generous soul that left a positive mark on most people’s lives that crossed paths with his.

He recognized long before I did that I was not a very good player. He called me “Jersey” because I am from New Jersey, and rarely talked to me directly. When he needed me in a drill, he would yell to assistant coach Donny Daniels, “Donny, get me Jersey”…even if I was standing next to him. The handful of times I had private conversations with him away from the practice court, he always showed a keen interest in my well-being and my academic pursuits. He always remembered that I hoped to be a physician some day. I had seen all of his quips and jokes during interviews when I was high school and was surprised by how rarely he joked around the players. If I hadn’t been aware of his media persona, I would never have thought of him as remotely humorous (at least, not purposefully).

He had a great eye for talent (and unfortunately, lack of talent). I remember overhearing him tell assistant coaches how anxious he was for Andre Miller to become eligable, because he felt he was going to be a star. I had played pickup games with Andre throughout the preseason and was unimpressed. I really did not believe he was as good as Terry Preston, the starting point guard at the time. Of course, Andre Miller is now very wealthy and I was very wrong. When Garner Meads was a McDonald’s All-American finishing his senior season, my friend Tyler was sitting next to Rick Majerus on a plane. He told my friend that Garner Meads “is not a special player.” Once again, he proved prophetic.

He may have sold the story to the media, as most coaches do, that his teams were not that talented. I think that this is the biggest misperception of his coaching career. The 1997-1998 Utes were sold to the viewers of the NCAA tournament as a band of overachieving slow players that played basketball the right way. From my point of view, the Utes had a more talented roster than the Kentucky Wildcats (who they lost to in the NCAA finals). Four players on that team played in the NBA (Miller, Michael Doleac, Hanno Mottola, and Britton Johnson). Coach Majerus was an underrated recruiter. He was a great coach, but I certainly felt his coaching style had some flaws. The most serious being his micromanaging of offensive basketball. He would spend hours on seemingly insignificant details about attacking the zone, that would make his guards think so hard that they were rendered incapable of any instinctful basketball play (I watched the 2008 game where his Saint Louis team scored only 20 points). But when he had players that did not get bogged down in his details (like Miller), his teams could produce basketball in a way that was absolutely breathtaking. I will never forget watching them take apart Arizona to go to the final four in 1998. The cuts, the screens, the passing was as aesthetically pleasing as any basketball I have seen since. Of course, he was a great defensive coach as well.

He was a yeller, there was no doubt about it. Sometimes, he would get himself so worked up in practice, that he completely would get carried away in a non-sensical rant. The rants were full of obscenities and often quite funny (not purposefully). I tried to write some of these down but I don’t know where I put them. Keith Van Horn was the most common target that year. For me to assert that I know to what degree these were psychologically damaging, would not be fair, since he never really yelled at me (or any of the other walk-ons). Keith seemed to take it well. There are so many advantages to being a star Division 1 athlete that being berated during basketball practices does not seem to be one of the world’s great injustices.

He was a generous donor to causes such as the Huntsman Cancer Institute (which strikes a cord with me, now that I am an oncologist). He seemed incredibly loyal and generous to the players that stuck it out for four years, and was very invested in their success. He was a basketball genius, and a large figure in the college basketball world. He will be missed.